Great Smoky Mountains National Park || Days 3 & 4

On our third morning we woke up to the sound of rain drumming on our tent, but we were determined to make the best of it! Our plan for the day was to drive to the Cade's Cove area of the park and explore. 

Because of all the rain, there were beautiful waterfalls flowing down from the mountains right off the side of the road. The drive to Cades Cove was a real treat!

 This part of the park has an interesting history. The Cades Cove valley was settled by Europeans in the 1820's, where their families farmed and lived on the land for over a century. However, in 1927 the government started purchasing the land in an effort to make a new national park. Many willingly moved away, but some families resisted but were eventually forced out of the valley.  Today, the valley is full of old cabins, churches, mills, and other remnants of the farms and people that once lived there.

 Cades Cove is a scenic 11-mile one-way loop that winds through the valley. On Saturday and Wednesday mornings, they close the road until 10am to allow for people to walk and bike the road. If we visit the Smokies again, we'll definitely bring the bikes with us!

 The Smoky Mountains have many of these oddly shaped but beautiful cantilever barns. Very different from our traditional red barns (with hex signs, of course) in Southeast Pennsylvania! 

  

  It stopped raining for a few minutes, so we got our stove out to make lunch. Unfortunately, it started raining about five minutes into our lunch-making efforts.. but the views from the picnic area were nice! 

This picture makes me smile - we were tired, cold, wet, and hungry so these Ramen noodles felt like the best thing in the world! Travel isn't always glamorous, but it's an adventure. 

One of the wonderful parts about being in the Smokies in the spring was the wildflowers! There were incredible flowers everywhere, including these wild orchids. The diversity was amazing!

  

One our fourth day, we woke up to more rain and impending storms (with predictions of hail and 50-60mph winds).. so we decided to tear down camp a day early and head to South Carolina. We did a lovely (but wet!) hike to Grotto falls before hitting the road. 

 The trail goes right behind the waterfall! 

The trail head is on the historic Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, which is actually an old road. We absolutely loved this one-way drive through the mountains, it was stunning! It features old cabins, an old mill, and multiple hiking trails. At one point I made Mike stop so that I could take photos of the stream.. he told me later I was gone for almost 45 minutes. Oops. 

     

  

  

 Our drive out of the park was supposed to feature spectacular views, but unfortunately, we saw mostly fog. It made for some lovely moody photos though!

  

 As we excited the park near Cherokee, NC we were greeted by a herd of elk grazing along the road!

Once we were out of the park, we made a small detour to Mingo Falls. This gorgeous 120 foot tall waterfall is only a short hike (.4 miles round-trip) up a few stairs to this amazing beauty. It was a perfect end to our time in Great Smoky Mountain NP!

Our overall thoughts were that we loved the park. The end of April was a nice time to visit, as it wasn't too cold or hot, the park wasn't crowded yet, and there was some life starting to appear in the forest. We were disappointed by the amount of rain we experienced, but that was unavoidable. We had a great time regardless, and hope to get back one day when the sun is shining!